The Saskatchewan NDP will choose their first female leader on Sunday afternoon during their leadership conference in Regina..Current MLA Carla Beck and Saskatoon Metis lawyer Kaitlyn Harvey are the two leadership hopefuls..In February, the incumbent leader Ryan Meili announced that he was resigning as leader of the party. On the last day of the spring legislative session, Meili announced he would resign from his Saskatoon Meewasin riding seat and return to private life..Meili has not endorsed either candidate..Harvey, who would be the first female Metis leader of the Sask NDP, has positioned herself as a one-issue candidate. Her leadership pitch is the party and the province need to focus primarily on climate change..“People want a government to do something about climate change. They see the risk to our oil and gas sector, to our economy, to our farmers, to our communities that rely on resource development,” Harvey said..Beck, who represented the riding of Regina Lakeview for six years, has been endorsed by over half of the NDP caucus. Beck said shewants to find “common ground” with voters to rebuild the party as the NDP only have 12 seats in Saskatchewan. Meili’s seat will go into a by-election before the fall legislative session..“I want to see this province thrive. There’s an opportunity being left on the table. We’re seeing young people leave our province. I want this to be a place where my kids build their future,” Beck said..“What is also very clear to me, through six years in Opposition, is in order to make real and lasting change, we have to be able to form government.”.The Saskatchewan NDP have been out of power since 2007. They will pick the new leader at 3:30 pm MST.
